1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to eye protection devices and particularly to safety goggles that have ventilation to prevent fogging.
2. Description of the Related Art
People wear safety goggles and other protective eye wear in a variety of work environments to protect their eyes from solid projectiles, dust and splashed liquids. A problem that arises for certain types of safety goggles is that the safety goggles tend to form a fog on the inside of the lens and obstruct the vision of the wearer.
The typical solution to fogging has been to employ the use of anti-fog coatings on the lens, and augmenting the coating's performance by ventilating the ambient air that exists in the goggle chamber. This two component system minimizes the possibility of fog forming on the lens. Ambient air ventilation helps to prevent fogging by preventing heat build up in a goggle chamber formed between the safety goggles and the body of the wearer. However, when the safety goggles are provided with air ventilation, one must ensure that the ventilation mechanism does not provide a path for projectiles, hazardous liquids or dust particles to enter a goggle chamber between the eye and the safety goggles.
One problem encountered with safety goggles of the existing art is that these safety goggles do not provide sufficient air circulation to complement the lens coating and keep the safety goggles free of fogging and reducing heat accumulation. Air currents through the goggle chamber should cause the water vapor to be removed from the goggle chamber, thereby lowering the relative humidity. Previous designs for safety goggles have also not recognized that the human face has variations in temperature and have not properly accounted for these variations in designing safety goggles.
It has been established that in a typical goggle design, heat tends to accumulate in the area surrounding the wearer's nose.
To this end, a need exists for safety goggles which are simple in design, protect the eyes of the user, and which are inexpensive to manufacture. It is to such safety goggles that the present invention is directed.